POLICY AND SUMMARY 



153 



TABLE 17 — LOSSES FROM NOTABLE TORRENTS FROM 1890-1907 



"■ Amount of loss estimated. 



CORRECTIVE MEASURES 



Policy and Summary. — Briot, formerly a conservator in the French 

 Forest Service, was the first to make a fight against ''dead works" in 

 reforestation as opposed to Hving plantations of grass, shrubs, or trees. 

 The final judgment of the French foresters seems to be that though to 

 permanently reclaim an eroded area vegetation is essential, yet dams, walls, 

 and like works are also necessary. During the early work in the Alps, 

 the operations of the French engineers might possibly be criticised on the 

 ground that they depended too much on masonry dams (see Fig. 10, a to d) 

 and purely artificial corrective works rather than on the permanent vege- 

 tation (grass, shrubs, and trees) which is necessary if erosion is to be 

 -permanently corrected. Briot did a great deal of good in agitating for less 

 masonry and for more vegetation. He argued that to get at the root 

 of the evil the correction must start at the top of the slope because other- 

 wise the clams fill up with silt and the slopes remain as bad as before. 

 Possibly Briot went to extremes in his propaganda against the methods 

 then current, but to-day it is unquestionable that the results of his 

 attacks have been beneficial. The present methods are the result of 

 having wasted public money and of having profited by the mistakes. 



